Which to use
“musst” and “musste” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #755
- “musst” frequency rank
- #368
- “musste” frequency rank
- 1123
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | musst | musste |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 2. Person Singular Präsens Indikativ des Verbs müssen | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs müssen |
Where the eye mixes musst and musste
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. musst runs 5 letters (CVCCC) against musste's 6 (CVCCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses musst with musste
A purely visual mix-up. musst ([mʊst]) and musste ([ˈmʊstə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “musst” sits inside “musste”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1123, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
musst is recorded at frequency rank #755, classified as averb, pronounced [mʊst]. musste is at rank #368, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈmʊstə].
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 1123, this pair ranks #2,004,866 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of musst vs musste
Shared letters: mstu. Private to "musst": -. Private to "musste": e.
"musst" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "musste" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "musst" and "musste" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "musst" or "musste" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "musst" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "musste" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #2,004,866 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "musst" and "musste" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "muscle vs musste". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #2,004,866 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.